Fairwind student go toe to toe with poverty in Marblehead

Thursday

Can you imagine owning no shoes? That was the question educators posed to students at the Fairwind Learning Center as a kick off for a Soles4Souls shoe drive.

“We collected 187 pairs of shoes,” said office manager Anne Tassel.

Tassel said they presented the idea to the young students by first asking them how many pairs of shoes they have and then asking them what they thought it would be like to have no shoes.

“It’s something they could relate to,” Tassel said.

Soles4Souls is a non-profit social enterprise based in Nashville, Tenn. that aims to disrupt the cycle of poverty by creating sustainable jobs and providing relief through the distribution of shoes and clothing around the world.

Tassel said the project lent itself well to teaching children about empathy and volunteering.

“I think it was pretty impactful,” Tassel said.

Tassel said many of the students have shoes for every occasion and it was a chance for them to see that there are some people, children included, in the world with no shoes at all.

Students collected shoes of all sizes for people of all ages, from kids to adults. Tassel said when all was said and done the collection filled five boxes and shipping labels were provided by Zappos, an online shoe and clothing realtor.

“We just had to pay for the boxes,” Tassel said.

Tassel said this is the first time the kids have collected for Sole4Souls, but it won’t likely be the last.

“We always do something, but we’ll probably do this every year now,” she said.